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Rich Grenyer

@grenyer.bsky.social

61 followers 50 following 110 posts

Biodiversity scientist at the University of Oxford; Fellow @JesusOxford. Conservation planning, computing and consequences. Reluctant user of algorithmic social media.

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Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Apr 14

“It’s like claiming to have brought Napoleon back from the dead by asking a short French man to wear his hat.”

A short piece in The Conversation by me on why “de-extinction” is nothing of the sort, and bad, bad conservation.

theconversation.com/why-de-extin...

Why ‘de-extinct’ dire wolves are a Trojan horse to hide humanity’s destruction of nature

Extinction is, for the time being, forever – and a symptom of our global economic system.

theconversation.com

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Mar 24

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10....

New paper - England’s Biodiversity Net Gain policy could easily and inadvertently harm invertebrate populations because it doesn’t value habitats, condition, connectivity, or scale in ways that invertebrate populations respond positively to.

Leveraging Biodiversity Net Gain to address invertebrate declines in England

Biodiversity Net Gain (BNG) is a new approach to infrastructural development in England, mandating that developers achieve a 10% BNG by enhancing and creating habitats. As currently implemented, BNG...

resjournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Mar 23

OK, this looks fascinating: Marder et al in Science this week: www.science.org/doi/epdf/10....

Direct effects of mountain uplift and topography on biodiversity

Biodiversity hotspots in Earth’s mountain ranges suggest a strong connection between topographic development and biological processes. However, it remains unclear whether high biodiversity in mountain...

www.science.org

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

I’ll happily die on the hill of academic freedom of speech. But I’m damned if I’m sharing it with the Oxford Union who have absolutely nothing to do with it.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Just breaking my own Twitter embargo to congratulate @johnmittermeier and colleagues on refinding Otidiphaps insularis after 146 years, and also on outrunning pirates. We need to adjust the postgraduate research skills training accordingly :) https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-63672501

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Wow. Your mastodon account has a pure RSS output built in. https://mstdn.social/@rysiek/109288881064018003

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

My use of Twitter is paused pending future statements by the company about changes its policies on disinformation and promotion of violence on the platform. Please use email as I won’t see DMs.🤞

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

This isn’t a new government. That seems like a strategic error.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

https://influencemap.org/report/Industry-Associations-Biodiversity-Policy-19612

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

The perfect time for the government to spend a zombie month while the Brexit ultras try a last power grab and we all pay. “…my lifeless two-year-old wasn't enough of an emergency to get the help of the ambulances. The cuts to the NHS are just so scary.” https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-633256...

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

#ClownCarDeathMatch

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Quick check of the ne… oh.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

and this isn’t doomscrolling, particularly - it’s just scrolling. So maybe it’s time to save the brain and reduce input and output to biogeography only? It might be.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

The brain - mine at least - is just not meant to experience so many different and intense emotions in such quick succession. A few weeks or months away show you this dopamine buffet and its consequences - it becomes an affective version of Douglas Adams’ Total Perspective Vortex.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

In three sequential clicks, it gave me this absolutely raw article from @robdelaney on child loss https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/the-heaviest-pain-in-the-world-rob-delaney-on-his-sons-death-x3f79klxb then the evil government banality of “a return to austerity” and then finally a tweet contain...

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Everyone knows ML boosts clicks, and the consequent outrage it amplifies and divides with. But even without, a few thousand sources of content becomes a high-pressure hose of experience, and I just don’t think I’m (and by proxy, anyone) is designed to deal with the consequences.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

I spent the summer off Twitter, pretty much. I’ve returned to it this week. And honestly, I think I need to fundamentally rethink whether and how I use it. I’ve curated my feed intensively, and professionally and politically it tells me a lot of things I want and need to know.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Amazing-looking paper in Nature on the new @IUCN ecosystem typology. It’s a hugely ambitious idea, with profound and quite hard-to-predict consequences for monitoring: https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-022-05318-4 Itâ��s also got an eye-opening (presumed) response to a reviewer…

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Yes, a screenshot of a retweet. But the UN just retweeted to the world a warning from major conservation bodies about the Conservatives’ plan to destroy three fundamental legislative pillars of nature protection in the U.K. without clear replacement. It’s bad on a global scale.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

One of the saddest things about the ongoing attempt to pack the council of the @nationaltrust with conservative fundamentalists is that the great West Country work of @TheRestoreTrust and indeed their whole hard-won public image is being stolen. If there’s a trademark lawyer…

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

For anyone wondering how all their water got onto the ring road last week - I don’t think they’re meant to look like this normally.

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Good run down of NAO modelling and outlook for this winter, as well as consequent gas demand and consequences thereof. In short - �¤ž😬https://thebreakthrough.org/issues/energy/will-a-cold-european-winter-exacerbate-the-energy-crisis-part-2

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Those notorious Jacobins, the National Trust. https://www.nationaltrust.org.uk/press-release/our-response-to-recent-government-proposals-

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

“Events, dear boy, events.”

Rich Grenyer @grenyer.bsky.social · Jan 21

Helpful context if the new government’s gamble isn’t making much sense. https://www.niesr.ac.uk/blog/inflation-slows-energy-price-cap-mitigating-further-rises